Golf is a game that originated in Scotland and is now popular around the World. The game is played by hitting a hard ball into successive holes in as few strokes as possible with clubs consisting of a head, a shaft, and a grip. When the ball is relatively close to the hole, it is hit with a special golf club known as a putter having a head with a nearly-vertical face (hitting surface) to roll it along the ground. When the ball is further away from the hole, the ball is hit with one of several golf clubs having heads with angled-back faces that propel the ball into the air. Such golf clubs include woods (originally made of blocks of wood and now made of hollow metal bodies) and irons (relatively flat steel blades).
For many golf shots, the goal is to hit the ball accurately (so it goes in the direction and with the desired trajectory) with maximum velocity. Maximum accuracy is achieved by positioning the face of the golf club perpendicular to the target line at address and at impact (commonly known as squaring the club face). Maximum velocity is achieved by having all parts of the body functioning optimally to generate maximum club head speed at impact with the face of the club making contact with the ball at the optimal location (commonly known as the sweet spot of the club). Maximum club head speed requires a full rotation of the upper body, a weight transfer from the back leg to the front leg, and a movement of the wrists and hands that is known as a hinging and unhinging (also known as a cocking and uncocking) of the wrists. As the wrists unhinge at impact, the lower hand passes over (changes from following to leading) the upper hand. Accomplished golfers can swing a golf club to generate a club head speed of well over 100 miles per hour at impact which can send the ball over 300 yards in the air.
Hitting a ball accurately and at high velocity requires considerable skill. Both professional and amateur golfers spend many hours practicing their swings and are constantly trying to improve them. A wide variety of golf swing aids have been disclosed to help golfers improve their swings.
One class of golf swing aids are indicator devices that are temporarily attached to the shaft. The indicators project from the shaft outwardly over the ball (on the opposite side of the golfer). The indicators help the golfer square the face of the golf club at address and at contact. Such golf swing aids are disclosed in Chiesa, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,158, Dec. 6, 1988; Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,376, Sep. 1, 1992; Karp, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,892, Jun. 11, 1996; and Ross et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,780,542, Aug. 24, 2010. Gaviria, U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,622, Aug. 21, 2007, discloses an indicator having one leg/arm that projects outwardly, perpendicularly to the shaft, over the ball. The indicator optionally contains additional legs/arms that project toward the target, away from the target, and toward the golfer. While these indicator devices are helpful in learning to square the face of the golf club, they are of limited value in learning the optimal unhinging of the wrists.
Accordingly, there is a demand for an improved golf swing aid. More particularly, there is a demand for a golf swing aid that enables a golfer to learn the optimal unhinging of the wrists to generate maximum club head speed.